Two straight seasons have resulted in two straight Sweet 16 appearances, and a second straight disappointing finish.

The Penn State women's basketball team lost to No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday, putting an abrupt end to a very successful season, which included winning the outright Big Ten regular-season championship. Regular season, however, is no longer good enough for this team, which knows that sooner or later it is going to have to prove itself by winning a big game come late March.

"It's supposed to help us, the game from last year," said guard Tanisha Wright, referring to the Lady Lions' loss to Connecticut in the Sweet 16 last season. "We're supposed to learn from that, but we didn't and we had the same result."

Making the game more of a disappointment, aside from the Lady Volunteers' sheer domination of the glass, was the fact that some of the Lady Lions played up to a level they had yet to reach all season.

With Kelly Mazzante struggling in the first half, point guard Jess Strom took it upon herself to create her own scoring opportunities more than she had been doing all season. Driving and feeding Mazzante was not working the way it had been, so Strom had to adjust and she did.

"Jess Strom had a terrific game, she was fearless," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said.

"She did this in the game versus Connecticut. I was very, very pleased with her."

Strom recorded 18 points and six assists in 38 minutes to lead the team in all three categories, and turned the ball over just once. Coming into the NCAA tournament, she had been averaging less than 10 points per game.

Strom was helped by Wright in carrying the team in the first half. Wright was more assertive offensively than usual and was playing with the emotion that was missing from the rest of the team.

The key piece that was absent was Mazzante, who couldn't find her stroke and went just 1 for 7 in the first half. She finished with 12 points, similar to her performance against UConn last year, when she only dropped 15.

"I had shots, I just wasn't putting them in the basket," Mazzante said. "I don't know why, I had open looks. They tried to be physical, but it was nothing I haven't seen."

The whole game appeared to be something that the Lions have never seen before, as they never quite got into a consistent rhythm offensively.

"Every time we made a run," Wright said, "they came back with easy baskets."

The question now for the Lions is how they can regroup and get better over the summer, something Wright knows is important.

"There's a lot of things we all need to work on," she said. "I'll be ready."

As this season has proven, having one person ready is not enough to advance beyond the Sweet 16.